1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for delivering mailings.
2. Related Art
Delivery services which must distribute or collect mailings such as packages or letters go to great effort to get from delivery address to delivery address, as a result of which a lot of time lapses and the driving profiles for the delivery vehicles are rather unfavorable.
The term “mailing” is understood as meaning all documents or articles that can be delivered to a recipient or can be collected from a sender for transport to a delivery address with the aid of a company. These include, for example, letters, small shipments and money transfers. The mailings are usually delivered to the residential address of the person in question. A postal recipient of a mailing is that person who is named at the address and for whom a mailing is intended. This may be a natural or legal person, for example an institution, a body or a company. A residential address is the postal address of a residence in which a person permanently resides. This may be the main residence or the secondary residence. A residential address generally consists of the statement of the street, the house number, the location and the country. The apartment or room number or the floor, the part of the building (for example back building) and a subtenancy (“care of” or “c/o”) are sometimes also stated. In order to send mailings, the residential address also includes the zip code and possibly the district or neighborhood. If the residential address is in an estate, the estate name with the house number is mentioned instead of the street.
A postal recipient is also understood as meaning the person who actually receives a mailing. This person may, but need not, be the addressed person (addressee). This person may have been instructed by the recipient to receive the mailing. Mailings are usually placed in the home mailbox. Particular mailings, for example those with the mailing form “by registered letter” or with a “delivery certificate”, are generally delivered directly to the recipient, as are telegrams and express deliveries. Some mailings, for example packages which cannot be delivered, are not deposited in the mailbox. In these cases, the recipient receives a notification card.
It often occurs that the person in question cannot be found at the residential address during delivery and a notification (already mentioned) stating how, where and when the mailing can be delivered again is left behind by a postal or delivery service. These inefficient logistics produce additional environmental impact and costs because, for example, the engines in the delivery vehicles are often used outside the optimum operating range. Furthermore, the delivery vehicles are often a traffic obstruction because the drivers rarely look for a parking space for the short stopping times but rather simply stop with hazard lights and it is necessary to repeatedly approach the residential address in order to deliver the mailings.
Vehicles have often been equipped with so-called “keyless entry access units” in the meantime which make it possible to unlock/lock the vehicle from the outside by radio. This requires a control unit located in the motor vehicle that communicates, via radio signals, with an external unit that is usually integrated in a key or in an authorization card for the vehicle. The control unit in the vehicle and the external unit (also called external identification unit) usually carried by the driver enter radio contact after both have been activated. Both units then interchange data containing a stored code via radio. If this code matches between the identification unit and the control unit, the vehicle is unlocked or locked by the authorized driver.